The Changing Face of IR: How a New Student Record System Changed Our Role and How We Changed with It

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1 The Changing Face of IR: How a New Student Record System Changed Our Role and How We Changed with It AIR 2007 Session ID #640 June 6, 2007 Kansas City, Missouri

Today s Presenters Kat Collison, Senior Research Analyst, Institutional Research and Planning, University of Delaware Karen DeMonte, Senior Research Analyst, Institutional Research

2 Today s Presenters Kat Collison, Senior Research Analyst, Institutional Research and Planning, University of Delaware Karen DeMonte, Senior Research Analyst, Institutional Research and Planning, University of Delaware Dale Trusheim, Associate Director, Institutional Research and Planning, University of Delaware Almost 50 years of combined University experience

Research and Planning, University of Delaware Dale Trusheim, Associate Director,

University of Delaware Located in suburban Newark, Delaware midway between Philadelphia and Baltimore Origins back to 1743, was chartered in 1833 Public, State Assisted University Doctoral Research

3 University of Delaware Located in suburban Newark, Delaware midway between Philadelphia and Baltimore Origins back to 1743, was chartered in 1833 Public, State Assisted University Doctoral Research Extensive University 22,000 Undergraduate Applicants 17,000 Undergraduates 3,500 Graduates 126 undergraduate degree programs 82 master s programs 39 doctoral programs 4,000 Full and Part-time Employees Total FY06 Operating Expenses and Transfers $617.2 Million

Undergraduate Applicants 17,000 Undergraduates 3,500 Graduates 126 undergraduate degree programs 82 master s

4 Synopsis of Presentation History of Reporting at the University of Delaware Implementation plan for PeopleSoft Reporting Creation of UD Data Warehouse Role of Institutional Research in UD Reporting Transformation of Institutional Research

Reporting Creation of UD Data Warehouse Role of

5 Welcome to the New Millennium 2000 Live with PeopleSoft Human Resources Live with PeopleSoft Finance Began PeopleSoft Student Administration 8.9 Phased Roll Out of SA 8.9 Modules: Admissions Module first go-live August, 2005 Followed by Financial Aid and Student Finance And Fall 2006, Student Records went live (mostly)

0 2004 Began PeopleSoft Student Administration 8.9 Phased Roll Out of SA 8.

6 Remember the Good ol Days of Legacy Reporting? Production reports developed by IT Users easily produced reports Included data from several sources Human Resources Finance Student Records Development, etc. How can I help you?

produced reports Included data from several sources

7 Reporting in PeopleSoft HR and Financials Was a Challenge PSQuery Heavily Used on Campus, but Too many tables to join Report formatting was limited Outer Joins were difficult to program System was slow Limited support from Information Technology IT out of reporting business Could not report across systems

Outer Joins were difficult to program System was slow Limited support from

8 UD Plan to Implement Student Administration Reporting Functional teams were established by management to comprise all areas vital to the implementation of PeopleSoft SA (UDSIS). The Reporting Team was made up of key individuals with reporting responsibilities from each major functional area: Institutional Research & Planning Team Lead Functional team representatives IT-Management Information Services Uncertain future of PS Query

The Reporting Team was made up of key individuals with reporting responsibilities from each major

9 PeopleSoft Reporting Now What? PSQuery N-Vision Crystal Excel, Access, SPSS How should I run this report? At times, all of the above Other times, none of the above

10 How do we Resolve Reporting Needs on Campus? A Committee was formed to select a reporting system which will be used at UD with the enterprise systems - HR, Financials, Student Records, etc. Criteria for evaluating packages: Web-based deployment Easy to use Have more functionality than what was currently available with PSQuery Share Reports via and the web Use existing data security in applications Give users the ability to write and deploy their own reports Download reports to excel and access. The selected vendors provided demos and then committee members followed up with other schools for their recommendations. Cognos BI Tools was purchased in 2003.

Criteria for evaluating packages: Web-based deployment Easy to use Have more functionality than what was currently available with PSQuery Share Reports via email and

11 Solution, Part 1: Cognos Framework Manager Cognos Connection Query Studio Report Studio Training documents on-line Hey, we can do this!

12 BUT Cognos prefers Dimensional Data structures I m heavily medicate d BUT PeopleSoft is a Transactional Database

13 Solution, Part 2: A Data Warehouse IR took the lead - we live on data! Proposed the implementation of a data warehouse We wanted outside experts Did not have expertise on campus No time; No resources We did not want an out of the box solution Wanted customization Ability to grow and expand Ownership Enterprise Solution

not have expertise on campus No time; No resources We did not want an out of

14 Partnership with Phytorion, Inc. Expertise and experience Time savings New business requirements will drive needs Won t bog down production Generate data from the same source Speed of processing Simplify reporting

15 Unlike Others, Phytorion Offered Expertise and experience Time savings Data consolidation Processing speed Reporting sophistication Knowledge of Cognos Knowledge transfer Ability to decipher our business requirements

speed Reporting sophistication Knowledge of Cognos

16 IR Proposal Data Delivery Team IR primary data users, data analysts and data presenters Primary source of UD reporting needs Reporting moved out of traditional location in IT Partnership with IT and Phytorion, Inc Design and manage UD Data Warehouse

needs Reporting moved out of traditional location in IT

17 Why IR? We collect data We analyze, distribute, and present data We assist in planning, decision-making, and policy formulation based on data We ensure the accuracy of vital University statistics We respond to diverse requests for data We assist other units with research and assessment We Have a Vested Interest in Reporting

decision-making, and policy formulation based on data We ensure the accuracy of

New Challenges Learn new data architecture Learn Dimensional Modeling Schemas Learn new ETL build tool Confidence that we are reporting the correct

18 New Challenges Learn new data architecture Learn Dimensional Modeling Schemas Learn new ETL build tool Confidence that we are reporting the correct single version of the truth to campus Teaching old dogs new tricks Data Definitions Dimensional Structures Reporting Tools And make it easy for our users

correct single version of the truth to campus Teaching old dogs new tricks

19 Is IR Technical or Functional? Neither and Both Definition: Technical Expertise with Functional Knowledge.

20 Build Relationships Institutional Research Functional Unit Liaison Built and tested packages Wrote reports in Cognos Verified output Information Technology Software and hardware needs Database copies ETL load time Technical support Phytorion Business requirements Star schemas Developed ETL code Trained technical DBA s Success = Team Work

hardware needs Database copies ETL load time Technical support Phytorion Business

21 Institutional Research s Role Institutional Research built and tested packages in Data Warehouse Wrote reports in Cognos Connection Verified output by comparing data from DWH with data from PSQuery using Excel and Access

22 Information Technology s Role Configure software and hardware requirements Create copy of production data Technical support of Cognos tools Work with Network System Services

23 Phytorion s Role Gathered business requirements Delivered Fact and Dimension tables Developed ETL code and trained UD s Technical DBA s on use of Data Manager What makes Phytorion unique? Surrogate Identifiers (SID) for creating star schemas Valid to and from dates for effective dating Count fields Derived fields based on user specifications

24 Additional IR Staffing Requirements Massive Undertaking Creation, maintenance and expansion Over 100% time commitment for two SR IR Analysts Hired one IR Analyst Assumed many functions performed by IT Programmers Data Administrators Trainers End-user support

25 Proposed Data Delivery Team Warehouse Management & Metadata Modeling Project manger IR programmer Report Authoring, Training and Support Project Manager IR programmer

26 Continuing Work Growth of University of Delaware Information Mart With Institutional Tools (unapproved title) Write and distribute reports to the University Community Train users Go Live!

27 Questions?

28 Contact Information Office of Institutional Research and Planning University of Delaware Phytorion, Inc Presentation available on-line:

Session #25832 March 12, 2008 Alliance 2008 Conference Las Vegas, Nevada

Enterprise Reporting at Delaware through a Partnership with Phytorion Session #25832 March 12, 2008 Alliance 2008 Conference Las Vegas, Nevada Today s Presenters Kat Collison, University of Delaware Karen